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CHAPTER 16 – DURING THE WEEK
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“Arrggg... What am I going to do now!”
Angelina was stressed. She had skipped class, spent the last 20 minutes weighing her options, but had not arrived at any conclusion. Ever since she came upon information she didn't want to know, she regretted being nosy.
Looking at Luke grinning like an idiot, she took up a pen and threw at him. “Why are you so happy about my misfortune, I shouldn't have asked you to check.... ”
Dodging the pen, Luke replied nonchalantly: “You are over thinking things again. Just forget whatever you know and continue like before. Let things run on their course, you cannot fight against fate.”
“Wouldn't that be unfair to Jeanne? She's my best friend” Angelina complained
“But from the events unfolding, wouldn't it feel like you are the mastermind behind the meeting? You suggested her avatar gender; You link her up with Alan's avatar; Its all you.” Luke reminded.
“But...” Angelina's retort was cut short by Luke's explanation
“Lina, think from another perspective, those two liked each other, everyone except themselves know that. They represent the sweet-vanilla-romance to spice up boring school life. I call it fate that they manage to even meet in the game, so just sit back as a silent cupid.”
Angelina grumbled, she didn't like how Luke's perspective, but she knew staying quiet would be the best solution. Luke's logic was straight: There were too much coincidences involved, revealing everything now would cause gaps to her friendship with Jeanne as well as diminish the chance for the couple to be together.
*****
For weekdays, Alan couldn't spent as much time online. His daily schedule started with school, reaching home at 4pm, he would finish his homework and prepared for the next day. Being a top student wasn't easy.
Following that would be eating dinner and socializing with his family. Lastly, he would start playing RR from 8pm till 12am before going to sleep. The timing was partway between day and night in the game, so it included sewer hunts as well as time for other duties in the game, like cooking at the orphanage and trying to tailor a custom costume for his avatar.
On days where he reached home early or had extra gaming time, the avatar Bunny would end up in the training hall striking scarecrows. The training hall was a place for players to improve their avatars without leveling. To graduate from the training hall, an avatar would need to hit scarecrows for about 500 game hours. This was a feat not many had accomplish, too many people gave up after a day or two.
The only person Alan knew that completed the training was Luke, with the reward for completion being +40 to strength, agility and vitality, as well as a proof of completion. The reward would amount to approximately 25 more levels worth of stats, but the task itself was monstrous.
Alan understood his own limitations, he was unable to do monotonous exercise continuously for such long periods. Instead of under taking a great task and failing, Alan did small parts which will finally add up to the same result; By spending 1-2 hour daily (4-8 hours game time) Alan decided to complete the training across a few months instead of doing everything in one try.
Whenever he was free, he would spent time hitting; Whenever he felt stressed, he would vent at the scarecrows; Whenever he was down, beating straws would liven him up.
The weapon of choice for Bunny was a bat; a meter long bat, mostly seen in baseball. It looks like a sword, swings like a sword, hits scarecrows like a sword, but does blunt damage instead. The reason for such weapon, Alan found 'Javelot' a type of carrot that grew up very long.
Simply said: A girl named Bunny, with Rabbit-Ears, leading a Platoon of Armored Rabbits, wanting to make a Bunny-girl Costume... wouldn't an oversized carrot be her ideal weapon?
*****
RR was a game that had high realism, so players could see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. However, realism wasn't always the best option for games. As a game, total realism was put on hold. There were families playing, so there would also be underage children around. It was not appropriate to show spilled guts and splashing brain juice to the young.
Gamey changes made things flow better. Animals were simply made of skin, flesh, bone and blood, no guts, no innards, no brain juice. There was no waste excretion too, or we would see weaker mobs chased by players soiling themselves, green fields turning brown with fecal, while dungeons would all reek of ammonia.
Due to the above, for Tanning leather, things were simplified too. Instead of using foul smelling smashed up brains and livers cooked in water as tanning agents, the alchemist provide cheap solutions as replacements.
*****
Bunny had invested much money on arming the animals, food for the rat hunts and over a thousand gold on her ranch. She needed a way to either make the rabbits and ranch self-sustaining or profit making. Killing the rabbits for their meat and pelts wasn't feasible, as she needed them to grow further for the 'A' rank quest. Rat fur was worth little, rat meat even less.
The divine hint she got was from Gene, who had offered a potion that could tan leather. Rats, due to their environment, had a distinct sewer smell, so their pelts were worth much less. By tanning the rat pelts into leather, it removed the smell. Selling price increased many folds due to the low initial worth. Rather then hiring people for tanning, she taught the rabbits to do it.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Ever since Bunny found out the squirrels were pilfering her rat pelts behind her back, she awarded each one with a knock on the head, courtesy from her new weapon. Bunny was not a tyrant, as she punished bad behavior, she also rewarded diligence and smarts. The ring leader was named 'Prize' with the other 4 called 'Booty', 'Loot', 'Spoils' and 'Haul'. The squirrels were made the ranch traders, allowing them to barter all the processed rat leather for food. They were given a 5% cut for the deals made, to buy themselves incentives like apples or pears occasionally.
With all the above, the ranch started to have a good flowing system. Every night, the armed rabbits would decent into the sewers, plundering the underground inhabitants. In the morning, the corpse would be cleaned and pelts collected then processed. Evening time, the squirrels would take the processed leather to barter for food.
Rat meat were stored aside for Bunny. Every time she logged in, Bunny would use her cooking skills to turn these into 'Cheap Meaty Meals' and sell them in the plaza. Due to the low price, these were sold instantly. As cooked rats and cooked rabbits looked similar, and the food both tasted good and gave bonus vitality, nobody asked any questions.
According to Gene, tails and teeth of the rats were valuable too. Rat-tails were useful alchemy materials, so those were traded for tanning solutions, while rat-teeth, used by enchanters were bulk sold for coins.
Overall, the ranch was running well, churning out hundreds of rat leather, teeth and tails daily. Not truly great when compared to the large investment, but it was more then self-sustaining even when left alone; coppers and silvers were rolling in.
*****
All this while, Bunny was leisurely building fences around her land. After hitting the last piece of wood into place, she got some status message
Please set the name of the created ranch.
“Under Construction” Bunny thought it sounded appropriate, the ranch was only an outline, she would need to make more upgrades before it was finalized. Just like making a webpage, you put 'under-construction' as its title until you finished, then rename it something else.
You chose to name it ‘Under Construction’?
“Yes”
You made a New Ranch called 'Under Construction'
Effects:
With Shepherding sub-skill from Breeder Mastery, you are able to miniaturize this ranch
With Cattle Herding sub-skill from Breeder Mastery, you are able to keep low level monsters out
Area within the Ranch would be considered your owned space.
- Players entering without permission would be deemed hostile.
- Ranch will be considered a dungeon to monsters, so they will not enter without reason.
- You are allowed to kill hostiles within your land with no penalty
Number of Ranches created: 1.
Breeder Mastery skill raised by 3 level.
– Fame increased by 120.
– Animism increased by 20.
– Charisma increased by 8.
New Skill: Mobile Ranch
Mobile Ranch
You are now able to move your ranch anywhere you please.
Using 'Keep Ranch', you are able to miniaturize any ranch you build yourself
Using 'Restore Ranch' with a mini-ranch, you can restore it back to normal.
“Keep Ranch” Bunny uttered, testing out her new skill.
Immediately, the whole ranch got warped like a whirlpool, becoming a small model at the middle. The warrens and trees disappered into the model, leaving rabbits and squirrels startling at the scene. The cats lazying on the root of the house were not affected as the house remained.
With all eyes looking at her, Bunny tried to revert the process, picking up the ranch model, she uttered “Restore Ranch”
The model glowed, in front of Bunny, a blueprint paper appeared in form of opaque 3D image, looking at the layout from top view, she placed the ranch back into its original position, then place it down.
Immediately, the ranch reappeared as if nothing happened, the rabbits and squirrels immediately went back into their homes, Meow just yawned lazily at the sight. The animals didn't seem bothered, so the only one awed by this new skill was Bunny herself.
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